Drawing Rain
by Gary Oak The Pidgeon
Summary: A short fic going over Melinda's life one month after school ended. Rated T because it deals with rape.


Melinda stared out the window, wondering why it was raining during summertime. Summer was practically synonymous with sunshine!

"Did you finish your summer school homework?" her mother asked, having just walked into her room.

"Yeah," Melinda says. "Now I don't know what to do."

"Are your friends busy?"

Melinda nods.

"Why don't you draw something? I know you love to draw."

"I'm having artist block."

"You could help me make dinner rather than moping around in your room all night."

"No," Melinda said. "The rain is actually pretty interesting, you know?"

"Have it your way," her mother replied, then left the room.

Melinda took out her drawing pad, hoping this time she'd think of something to do. At first she'd thought drawing trees would help, but even she couldn't find a good tree to draw anymore. Most of them just got erased, their pages then torn out and thrown into the recycling bin.

It was near the end of June, almost a month since school let out. Melinda had reconciled friendships and made new ones, but tonight everyone seemed to have something to do. She diligently did her summer school work, and she did well at it, but by now it was done. She'd even checked over all of it.

_Should I watch TV?_ she asked herself. _But what will I watch? I don't want to have to continually click the next channel button._

Her mother suddenly opened her door again. "You're ready for shopping tomorrow, right?"

Melinda smiled, turning to face her, something she hadn't done when she first came in. Her mother was dressed more casually than usual in a tye-dyed t-shirt and jean shorts. Her hair was pulled back in a rather messy bun that looked as if it could break at any moments. "Yeah," Melinda said. "I'm ready."

"Good," her mother said. "We're going to have so much fun."

Melinda turned back to face the rain. It seemed like it would never stop, just go on forever and ever. Melinda had read a story like that in English class once, by a science fiction and fantasy author she couldn't remember the name of.

She played with the pencil in her hands, rolling it from one side of her desk to another. Yes, she was definitely doing something productive.

The next day she and her mother were going to go clothes shopping together, really go shopping. This time they'd both have fun and would get what they each liked, rather than her mother bringing her something ugly from the store she worked at. It was going to be quality bonding time as her mother called it.

The phone in her room rang.

"Who is this?" Melinda asked

"Mrs. Daniels," the person on the other end replied.

Mrs. Daniels was her new therapist, and recently she'd been helping her deal with what happened.

"Why are you calling right now?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm not okay; I'm bored stiff."

Mrs. Daniels laughed. "Why don't I recommend some movies?"

"No, it's fine." Melinda replied. "I'm actually trying to think of something to draw."

"Why don't I make a suggestion?" Mrs. Daniels asked.

"What?"

"Draw an imaginary world, one completely like this one. It can be dark and spooky or made of neon rainbow marshmallows and unicorns with bunny rabbit ears, or anything in between."

"That doesn't really help me."

"Fine, I'll make a rule: Everything you draw on the page must stay on that page. Do it tonight and bring it in on your next appointment, okay?"

"Okay," Melinda said, hiding the fact that she still wasn't enthusiastic about doing it.

"Goodbye, then," Mrs. Daniels said. "Or would you like to talk a little while longer?"

"No, but thank you for calling; goodbye."

"Goodbye, dear."

The two hung up.

Melinda opened her drawing pad, sharpened her pencil with her small, portable light blue sharpener, and then tried to think of what to draw. Mrs. Daniels first said dark and shadowy, and she began to draw creepy things. It was just vampires, ghosts, witches, Halloween-esque things.

_Those don't scare me._ thought Melinda. _And they really aren't dark and shadowy, but kind of cute. No one ever calls a little kid dressed as a witch or vampire scary._

She knew what did scare her. Though she'd begun to heal, she was still slightly bothered by it. It seemed not a day could go by without her remembering that _it_ happened.

"Do you only see yourself as a rape survivor?" Mrs. Daniels had asked on Melinda's very first appointment. "Because from what you just told me about yourself, I see you as more: a drawer, a bright student, a person people like and love, even cherish. Tell me, Melinda, do you see yourself that way, also?"

Melinda began to draw a unicorn with rabbit ears, knowing her counselor would find it funny to see she'd taken her seriously.

It seemed wrong. Yes, it was cute and little kids would probably love it, but it seemed wrong to her. Just because it was cute didn't mean it wasn't hiding something. It looked so good on the outside, but inside. . .

_You're thinking way too much into this! It's just a quick sketch, remember that!_

Melinda heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said.

Her father walked inside, coming up to hug her. "What are you drawing?"

"I'm just making random doodles."

"I think they're very nice."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Mom told me to tell you dinner will be ready soon."

Melinda nodded.

"Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah. How was your day, Dad?"

"It went well, actually." He messed up her hair with his hand.

"Dad!" she said, but couldn't hide a giggle.

"Continue working," her father said, then left.

She drew what seemed like more good things: Ice cream cones, books, happy people, hearts. They were nice, but it still seemed wrong. Some people are allergic to ice cream; some people can't read; some people hide what they're really feeling under their smile; some people get broken hearts.

She then began to draw the rain clouds in the very middle. On one hand, rain was good, allowing plants to grow and people to get water. On the other, it could flood places or not be in places where it should be. Rain could mix in with both good and bad, seeping into the corners of both, going freely from one to another.

Melinda tore out the page, putting it in one of her desk drawers. Now that she had finished it, she needed to keep it somewhere safe.

Melinda sat on her bed, putting a CD in her CD player. It was classical composers, just some music she listened to when she needed to relax.

_Should I try to draw some more?_ Melinda asked herself. The smell of dinner was heavy in the air, and Melinda guessed it was spaghetti.

Just then, her phone rang. Quickly, she paused her CD player before running up from her bed to grab the phone on her desk. "Hello? This is Melinda Sordino speaking." she asked.

"Melinda!" Heather's voice said. "It turned out that my mom is busy and can't take me to dinner tonight. She gave me the money it would have cost and said she'd let me choose a friend to come with me. My mom will also give us a ride! Want to come? You're the first person I asked."

"Sure," Melinda said.

"We'll be at your house in a couple minutes."

"Okay, thanks, Heather."

"No problem."

Heather and Melinda were finally friends. Not just I-sit-next-to-you-on-the-bus-and-eat-lunch-with-you, but actual friends. Heather now realized she wasn't going to make it to the top of the high school food chain, and she accepted it. Now that they really knew each other, they found out that they did have similar interests in things, and both could confide in each other.

Melinda ran down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Melinda," her mother said, turning to see her. "Have you decided you want to join cross-country sophomore year or something?"

"Mom, Heather just called and invited me to dinner. I know it's rude to ditch you guys, but it'll be so much fun."

Her mother smiled, and Melinda knew it was because she was glad Melinda finally had friends again. "You better eat this spaghetti for lunch tomorrow."

"I will."

"Good girl," her mother replied.

Melinda grabbed her purse, then stood near her front door to wait for Heather's mom.

Melinda ran out in the rain, then quickly into the car's backseats.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Heather said, sitting next to her.

"Where are we going?" Melinda asked. "You never said where we were going."

"The new pizza place downtown," Heather replied.

"Won't we have to wait two hours for a table since it's so popular?"

Heather smiled. "Nope! My mom got us a reserved table."

"Awesome!"

Melinda dug a small notebook out of the seat in front of hers back pocket. She dug a pen out of her purse, then began to draw.

Heather went on about her day, and Melinda mixed those in with the various things she was drawing.

"What are you drawing?" Heather asked.

"Stuff," Melinda replied.

"Cool, can I see?"

Melinda ripped the little piece of paper out of the notebook, now covered in what seemed to be everything.

"Thank you!"

Melinda smiled. "No biggie."

"I like your rain clouds the best! They're so realistic."

Melinda stared out the window, a smile on her face. For once the good things outnumbered the bad. "I'm glad you do. Want me to draw you anything else?"

"You'd do that for me?"

"What?" Melinda asked. "You're my friend; why wouldn't I do that for you?"

* * *

**Author's Note: So what do you guys think? This is definitely different from my last fic, and it's the only I'll have up for a while. I'm busy, so you won't see some stuff for a while. Sorry. :[ Well, I hope you guys liked it.**

**A little side note on why I did Melinda in third person: I could not capture her voice in first.**


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